"Fiction is the truth inside the lie, and the truth of this fiction is simple enough: the magic exists."
--from the dedication page to "It" (1986)

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

About This "Castle Rock" Series...

Alternate titles for this blog post included "Can We All Just Chill the Fuck Out?" and "Settle the Fuck Down," but I correctly thought those might too condescending. So I settled for something bland and inoffensive. Good job, me!

I’m not one to judge a book by its cover. However,
I have no problem judging the cover by its art (ahem), nor
do I balk at judging the message the cover seems to be trying to convey. After all,
whereas it might be true that a cover cannot
ruin the book it is covering, it’s at least as true to say that a cover
can on occasion do that book no favors.

With that in mind, let’s talk about Castle Rock,
the super-secret anthology series for Hulu that is being developed by
Bad Robot and Warner Bros.

I had not planned to talk about it here, but my
“Stephen King” Google Alert is pinging
about once an hour with news of this series, and the sense I get from folks who care about such things is that a general sense of
large-scale excitement is afoot.

I don’t understand why. From my perspective, it’s
based on almost literally nothing. I mean, look … I’m aware that it’s
churlish to try and talk people out of their excitement for something.
Man, this world sucks, so if you can squeeze
some enjoyment out of it, more power to ya. I get that. And anyways, I
don’t have any desire to actually try to talk somebody out of being
excited for
Castle Rock; I’m only interested in understanding why they are
excited and I’m not. If that manages to come off as if I begrudge or
even look down upon that excitement, then I apologize in advance and can
only say in my defense that I don’t mean it
that way.

Anyways, in this post's metaphor, the teaser and press release is the
cover, and the series Castle Rock is the book. We know very little specific detail about that book. Here's what Hulu is saying:

"A psychological-horror series set in the Stephen King multiverse, Castle Rock
combines the mythological scale and intimate character storytelling of
King’s best-loved works, weaving an epic saga of darkness and light,
played out on a few square miles of Maine woodland. The fictional Maine
town of Castle Rock has figured prominently in King’s literary career: Cujo, The Dark Half, IT and Needful Things, as well as novella The Body and numerous short stories such as Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption are either set there or contain references to Castle Rock. Castle Rock
is an original suspense/thriller — a first-of-its-kind reimagining that
explores the themes and worlds uniting the entire King canon, while
brushing up against some of his most iconic and beloved stories." (I pulled that quote, and the next, from this Hollywood Reporter story.) "It's described as an ongoing series, though sources tell THR that
it's more of an anthology that will weave together characters and
themes from King's novels featuring the mysterious town of Castle Rock.
Each season, sources say, will follow a different set of characters and
storylines while interjecting themes and specific characters from
previous seasons."

That just sounds like fanfiction to me. I can probably read some yahoo's 1600-page manuscript of that right now, somewhere on the forums where stuff like that is posted.

The
excitement I perceive among fandom seems to be based on the notion that this series
is going to tie together multiple King stories and characters, and
thereby present to the viewing audience (and the world
at large) a King multiverse like the one that exists in his
bibliography. For all I know, it will end up being exactly that.

But consider this: King himself has never really
seen fit to do such a thing. Instead, he’s built his multiverse one
brick at a time, and it is composed largely of individual pieces that
have coalesced to form a whole. The individual
pieces came first, and were seemingly by far the more important
consideration; the fact that they were stacked in such a way as to form a
whole seems to me to have been a secondary goal.

On the surface, Castle Rock would seem to be
an inverse of that equation: this is a case of J.J. Abrams, Hulu, and whoever else is involved deciding
that what they want to do is build a house using King-shaped bricks.
They are likely then looking around to see what
bricks they have on hand, and will fill in the gaps with whatever they
can wedge in. This does not sound like a house in which one
can expect to live safely.

(I may have overextended that metaphor. I was
thinking about trying to wedge the Big Bad Wolf in there somewhere,
FYI.)

Traditionally, it has proven to be difficult to
achieve a well-balanced and successful adaptation
of individual Stephen King books. Now, along comes an anthology series that
seems like it might be trying to adapt (or quasi-adapt) multiple King books
simultaneously, and also make those individual adaptations fit into a
semi-cohesive whole.

And you’re asking me to be excited about that?

The last time Bad Robot, Warner Bros., and Hulu teamed up on a Stephen King adaptation, the result was
11.22.63, an eight-episode series that drained most of the life
out of a terrific novel. Simultaneously rushed and overlong, that
miniseries was – compared to the book – a failure on almost every
level. So tell me again why I should be excited to see
all these entities taking a second turn at bat, but with what seems on
the face of things to be an exponentially more challenging task? You struck out the first time; this time you've blindfolded yourself and slicked down the bat's grip with baby oil. I am not confident you will put bat to ball, no, surely I am not. Call me crazy.

Again, let me specify that in no way am I
suggesting that Abrams and his showrunners (Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason of the late Manhattan) are incapable of doing it. There’s no reason why it
can’t work, as a hypothetical thing; there’s just not much reason, in my eyes, to assume that it
WILL work, as an actual thing. I hear Manhattan was good. But if David Simon (The Wire), David Milch (Deadwood), and David Chase (The Sopranos) were all teaming up on it, I'd still be a little skeptical. And those might be three of the best television shows in the history of American tv. It's gonna take more than dudes from Manhattan teaming up with Bad Robot to convince me this will work.

So, my fellow King fans, I ask you: why are so many
of you so jazzed about this? What is it about the idea that characters
from, say,
Needful Things might somehow “brush up against” some new story
that makes you feel as if that’s the use to which those characters ought
to be put? Let’s say that they are somehow combined with characters
from
Dreamcatcher and then they all end up in ‘salem’s Lot (a thing
not directly implied by the teaser, but not ruled out either): is that
what you’ve been missing as a King fan? Danny Torrance meeting the
Night Flier?

That’s the allure of fanfiction, of course: take
your toys, make ‘em all fight each other or kiss each other or drive
Tonka trucks together or what have you, and then sit back, satisfied. I
get the appeal of playing with your toys in
that manner. I don’t get the appeal of watching somebody else play
with their toys in that manner, and that’s what fanfiction seems like to
me: a thing best enjoyed from the standpoint of being the one in charge, and a waste of time otherwise.

The argument for it, I guess, is that if the person
playing with the toys is REALLY good at it, it can take on a life of
its own. I’d argue that that’s what
Stranger Things is, and if you don't think Hulu is hoping for their own Stranger Things here, well, you think dissimilarly to how I think. I thoroughly enjoyed
Stranger Things, so I’m inclined to admit that if Shaw and Thomasonbring a similar level of acumen to these proceedings as the Duffers did to
Stranger Things, then this could – COULD, mind you – be cool.

However, tying together all of these disparate
Kingian threads is a tall order, so whoever is in charge of the tying is
going to have to be a rare talent. A rare talent is, by literal
definition, RARE, i.e., unlikely. Stephen King is
a rare talent; that’s how he was able to achieve what he achieved with
his multiverse. The odds of Shaw and Thomason measuring
up to him don’t strike me as great. One more time: tell me
again why this is something that should excite
me? Guys, I’d love to be there with you, fist-pumping and grinning and
whatnot. I’m just not sold.

*****

The way I see it, one of the following things seems likely to be the result as far as the actual content of the series is concerned:

Scenario #1: The story for the first season will
be almost wholly an original one. Abrams posed the question, “What is
the hoax in the forest?” in making the announcement.

Doesn’t sound like any existing
King story to me, so something original seems likely. (Possibly the
upcoming Castle Rock story penned by King and Richard Chizmar could
serve as the basis, but until we know more about it, let’s leave that
possibility off the table.)

In this scenario, the
King-ian hook would likely be nothing more than a vague thing, probably
just a setting inside Castle Rock itself. You’ll see somebody reading
Paul Sheldon books on occasion, or a main character will have been a
recent inmate of Shawshank State Prison, or
something like that. The results could be good or they could be bad or
they could be mediocre, but regardless, this will be a case of somebody
writing their own stories and then calling them “Stephen King” by mere
association. “Stephen King” then becomes
a franchise; at this point, he is almost literally that Big Mac and
fries he once said he was.

Scenario #2: In this scenario, the story for the first season will draw a moderate amount of inspiration from an existing King work (or
multiple existing King works). So maybe it’s set in the eighties, and
Ace Merrill and Reginald “Pop” Merrill show up.
Maybe George Bannerman is the sheriff and it takes place before Cujo.
In the second season, maybe George Bannerman hires Alan Pangborn to be
his deputy, and they have to solve a case that takes them to Jerusalem’s
Lot, where they encounter a vampire
who calls himself Dwight Renfield. Danny Torrance – who is a big fan
of novelist Paul Sheldon – is also there for some reason, on vacation
with his “Uncle” Dick. Pennywise – on vacation from Derry – shows up
and wrecks everyone’s shit; or, worse, it’s a
creature similar to but distinct from Pennywise. Bongo the Clown or
some such nonsense.

Would these be positive developments? They
could be, I guess; but they could just as easily not be, and if I'm betting one way or the other, I'm betting on "not."

Hard to say until we find out for sure, but until then, what exactly is
it in the history of King adaptations that makes you feel excitement is a
more sensible stance to take than apprehension?
King himself rarely saw fit to mix and match stories in that manner;
when he did, it was typically on a small scale and was designed to
augment character, not plot. So why should we trust somebody else to do
it on his behalf and not fuck it up? Odds are,
they’d turn in something that was mediocre at best. Either way, again, in this scenario, King once again looks like a Big Mac and fries. Lemme get a Coke with that, please; make it a large.

Scenario #3: In this scenario, the first season adapts an existing King story;
Cujo, for example. But it does so in an open-ended way that can somehow lead to a second season that adapts, say,
Dreamcatcher. The seasons are distinct but related. Of the
three scenarios, this is the one that would interest me the most, but it
also the one which seems most likely not to happen. That “hoax in
the woods” thing would seem to rule it out,
at least as regards the first season.

*****

One useful way to think about all of this is to
consider what the production CAN do, in a legal sense. After all, in
order to adapt a story for the screen, or for any narrative medium, one
must be in possession of the rights to do so. It is likely, for
example, that no characters from The Dark Tower will be able to
make an appearance, because the rights to those novels are currently
owned by Sony.

However, Warner Bros. DOES seemingly still own the rights to It, so could Pennywise make an appearance? Sure, or Mike Hanlon, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, etc. Warner Bros. owns
The Shining, so a trip to the Overlook could happen. And so
forth. But anything Warner Bros. doesn’t legally have the right to use
is off the table, for the most part. (They could probably get away with
the sort of oblique references
Haven made, or the evocations Stranger Things used.)

So what properties are owned by Warner Bros.?
Here’s the list of King properties I know to have been released by –
and, presumably, still owned by – Warner Bros.:

11.22.63

Cat's Eye

Creepshow (just the first one, though)

Dolores Claiborne

Dreamcatcher

The Green Mile

Hearts In Atlantis (presumably including the entire novel, not just "Low Men In Yellow Coats")

It

Nightmares & Dreamscapes (no idea which stories apart from the ones in the miniseries, though)

The Night Flier (via Warner Bros. owning New Line)

Salem's Lot

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shining

Some of those are obviously mentioned in the teaser for Castle Rock,
including ones which have nothing to do with the town of Castle Rock. In fact, unless I am mistaken, NONE of those are set in Castle Rock.

But the teaser also mentions a few things which, so far as I know, would
be outside Warner’s
control (and therefore, presumably, unavailable to both Hulu and Bad
Robot). Rather than list them, let's just run down a lit of each of the entities mentioned in the teaser. Hopefully I got 'em all:

Leland Gaunt -- Gaunt comes from Needful Things, which has already been adapted once, by MGM. I assume they still own the rights; they put out a Blu-ray a few years back, in association with 20tth Century Fox.

Nettie Cobb -- also from Needful Things

Selena St. George -- from Dolores Claiborne, which is owned by Warner Bros.

'salem's Lot -- I'm opting to not italicize that, because for all I know, they're referring not to the novel, but to the town; a key difference. In any case, Warner Bros. owns the rights to that one.

the Losers Club -- this is from It, which is a Warner property.

"The Mangler" -- hey, I missed this one in making that list of WB-owned properties! I guess I could just go back and add it, but nah. Anyways, "The Mangler" is owned by New Line.

Andy Dufresne -- one of the two lead characters in The Shawshank Redemption, which is owned by Warner Bros. I have two things to say about this. First, nobody anywhere wants to see any element of The Shawshank Redemption be remade. So hands off the Andy Dufresne, please. Second, the name of the novella is "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption." No "the."

Beaver Clarendon -- one of the central figures in Dreamcatcher, which is owned by Warner Bros.

Duddits Cavell -- see above. One of the worst characters in all of King's fiction. NOBODY wants to see more adventures featuring Duddits.

Mr. Gray -- again with the Dreamcatcher

"The Night Flier" -- owned by New Line

Father Callahan -- a minor character in 'salem's Lot, so Warner owns him; although Sony owns the majority of his story, presumably (by way of his appearance in the final three novels in the Dark Tower series)

Hole-in-the-Wall -- a cabin from Dreamcatcher

Needful Things -- a shop in Needful Things, which, as we've said, is an MGM property

You Sew-and-Sew -- another shop in Needful Things

Paul Sheldon -- the main character of Misery, which is a 20th Century Fox movie, and one I'd say they are unlikely to let go of anytime soon

Ben Hanscom -- one of the Losers in It, which is a WB property (although the new remake is going to be a New Line film, for whatever difference that makes)

Ronnie Malenfant -- an antagonist of sorts from the novella "Hearts In Atlantis" (which should not be confused with the movie Hearts In Atlantis, which itself was based on the novella "Low Men In Yellow Coats," which appeared -- alongside "Hearts In Atlantis" -- in the novel/collection Hearts In Atlantis). It is unclear whether Warner Bros. owns the film rights to the entirety of Hearts In Atlantis -- including "Hearts In Atlantis" -- or just to "Low Men In Yellow Coats." Making things more confusing, last September it was announced that Johannes Roberts was working on a movie version of "Hearts In Atlantis" called Hearts. No mention of Warner Bros. was made in that announcement.

Nan's Luncheonette -- a diner in Needful Things

Mr. Jingles -- a mouse in The Green Mile, which is owned by Warner

Dick Hallorann -- a major character in The Shining and a minor character in It, both Warner Bros. properties

John Hunton-- okay, I had to Google that one. He's from "The Mangler."

Wilma Northrup -- Adrienne Barbeau's character in the Warner-owned Creepshow

Little Tall Island -- a location from a few King tales, including Dolores Claiborne

Shawshank State Prison -- duh

Misery's Child -- a fictional novel within Misery, which, as we've established, is owned by Fox

The Inside View -- a fictional newspaper in "The Night Flier" but also The Dead Zone, which is set partially in Castle Rock. But the television rights to The Dead Zone are owned by Lionsgate, and the film rights by Paramount. Or were. I'm only making an educated guess that they still are; these things do change hands sometimes. Also, isn't it just Inside View, not "the" Inside View?

Mike Hanlon -- from It

Beverly Marsh -- ditto

Bogs Diamond -- one of the Sisters in "Shawshank"

Joe St. George -- from Dolores Claiborne

Annie Wilkes -- from Misery

Richard Dees -- from "The Night Flier"

the Marsten House -- from 'salem's Lot

Juniper Hill Asylum -- it's mentioned in Needful Things and It visits it

Brian Rusk -- from Needful Things

Heywood -- a character from "Shawshank"

Eduard Delacroix -- from The Green Mile

John Coffey -- ditto; like the drink, only spelled different

Kurt Barlow -- from 'salem's Lot

"Low Men in Yellow Coats" -- the basis for the Warner-owned film Hearts In Atlantis

Sheriff Alan Pangborn -- from both The Dark Half and Needful Things, both owned by MGM (although the former was an Orion release, Orion no longer exists)

Fast Cars -- another fictional novel from Misery

Green Mile -- no "the" is appended, so let's assume this is a reference to the floor itself, from The Green Mile

Delbert Grady -- a minor character from The Shining

Peter Riley -- a major character from the novella "Hearts In Atlantis"

Jonesy -- a major character from Dreamcatcher

Richard Bachman -- Richard Bachman, of course, is a pseudonym used by Stephen King himself on occasion; might Bachman be turned into a character on the show? I guess nobody owns the rights to that; probably not even Stephen King.

Stan Uris -- from It

George Denbrough -- from It

Buster -- aka Danforth Keeton, from Needful Things

Mark Petrie -- from 'salem's Lot

Liza Garfield -- from "Low Men In Yellow Coats"

Pennywise -- from It

Henry Bowers -- ditto

the Barrens -- ditto

Horace M. Derwent -- from The Shining

the Mellow Tiger -- from Needful Things

Silver Creek -- another one I had to look up; it's from Misery

Percy Wetmore -- from The Green Mile

Danny Torrance -- from The Shining, obviously; but also from Doctor Sleep, the rights to which seem also to be owned by Warner Bros.

Stuart Ullman -- from The Shining, and it's also worth mentioning that Warner Bros. has been trying to develop a prequel to that movie for several years

Ben Mears -- from 'salem's Lot

Vera Donovan -- from Dolores Claiborne

Paul Edgecombe -- from The Green Mile

Norris Ridgewick -- from Needful Things

Derry, Maine -- from many King books, most notably It and the never-filmed Insomnia (the film rights to that may theoretically be owned by King himself, and therefore could be granted to Hulu)

Jack Torrance -- from The Shining, natch

Those are all the ones I spied going frame by frame. If any others eluded me, let me know.

Also worth mentioning are a few of the titles the Hollywood Reporter mentioned, but which do not appear in this teaser:

Cujo -- this was a Paramount release on Blu-ray, but a Warner Bros. release in theatres back in the day; so maybe there are rights issues here? I remember a few years back, a ludicrous remake (called C.U.J.O. and about robot dogs) was being bruited, but nothing ever came of it, mercifully

The Dark Half -- other than Alan Pangborn, nothing from this was in the teaser, so far as I noticed.

The Body -- this novella was the basis for Stand By Me, a Sony film.

To this, we will add a few King stories set in Castle Rock that have not been mentioned in association with this series:

The Dead Zone -- as I said earlier, the rights to this seem to be entirely locked up by other companies

"The Sun Dog" -- a novella from Four Past Midnight, there is no way to know what company, if any, owns the rights to it.

and a trio of short stories, "Uncle Otto's Truck," "It Grows on You," and "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut," none of which have ever been filmed and might theoretically be available for King to sell to Warner Bros.

With all that in mind, I'm not sure I see how Castle Rock can possibly include any elements from Misery. Actually, that's a lie; I do see how. Fox would have to sell (or rent) the rights to Warner Bros. and Hulu. At first glance, it would seem a similar thing would have to happen with MGM and Needful Things in order to get that one included. Such deals are occasionally struck between studios, of course; but it's something of a rarity. That's my perception, at any rate.

Admittedly, this is semi-informed speculation on my part. I likely have some of the details wrong. But there is an
inescapable fact at the center of this: this show will not be able to
use everything in King's body of work, and may not even be able to use all the things they mentioned in their own teaser. So already, the vision of a true
King multiverse is compromised and degraded. Yet again I stress that
this might not inherently be bad news. But, again, you’ll need to
convince me of the degree to which it is inherently good news.

We just don’t know.

For my
part, it seems wiser to squint, furrow my brown, fold my arms, and say,
“Show me.” If, after that, I have cause to grin and clap the producers
on the back, you can rest assured that grins
and claps will follow, frequently and loudly. But, guys: Under the Dome,
Haven, 11.22.63…? Have we forgotten so quickly?

I've not mentioned any of the lines of dialogue used in the teaser, so let's examine a few of those, and allow it to lead us into some speculation.

Apart from the "redrum," none of that rings any bells with me. But the "yellow house" bit comes when the name Annie Wilkes is on screen, so it's tempting to link them.

Some names/locations/titles are given more prominent placement than others in the teaser. Here are the ones which seemed to be favored:

literally a different town

literally not in Castle Rock

literally in a different state

also literally in a different state

Does any of this mean anything? Again, we just don't know.

But clearly, Bad Robot and Hulu want me to think it all means something, and the only thing I can come up with is that they are mashing all those things together. I just don't see it working. Sorry for the pessimism, but it's the simple truth, and my cynicism is emboldened when I reflect on the fact that the town of Castle Rock features in only one of the stories pictured above. (Wikipedia informs me that Red from Shawshank lived there before he went to prison, however, and also informs me that the town is mentioned in Doctor Sleep. Not sufficient.) Put those things together, and this all has the unmistakable odor of Dudes Making Shit Up.

So we're back to fanfiction.

Anyways, if I can circle back to my central metaphor, I’m hopeful that Castle Rock will be a good book; I’m hopeful it might even be a great one.
But this cover does not inspire confidence in me. I’m going to need to
pick the book up, read the back cover, and
start turning the pages before I assume it deserves to be on the shelf
alongside the ACTUAL King books.

I largely agree with you and the worst part is that a Stephen King anthology series is actually a fantastic idea and could be handled in two ways. Either a) the True Detective/American Horror Story approach with each season adapting a different novel or b) the Twilight Zone/Black Mirror approach where each episode could adapt a SK short story. Why aren't they just doing something like that? Without long, multi-season commitments being an issue they'd likely be able to attract better cast and crew and, by extension, more viewers. Plus, the show could reinvent itself with each episode or each season, unlike a continuing series where it's very hard to turn things around if it's shit.

Yep. We're in the same boat with that. A true anthology show adapting existing King novels/stories, sometimes with season-long arcs, sometimes with one- or two-episode stories ... seems like a no-brainer to me.

Strange as it may sound, I'd like to see him involved in some capacity. Like, for example, if they made a long documentary about the development/production of the first season, get Mick Garris to work on that.

Otherwise...?

As you say, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It really is remarkable how slapdash those credits are as far as going against their own concept. I wonder what they have the rights to use and how they'll use it. I'm not optimistic, but that's something the show's already got going for it: my expectations are as low as can be.

potential TV projects out there. My question is, if you want to compete with something as big as "Stranger Things", why try fan-fiction when you've got a whole slew of original work waiting to be green-lit?

I do know at least one King project I wouldn't mind seeing re-vamped. If "The Dead Zone" were being written today, it would be like a cross-country road trip on acid. "Through Darkest America", that sort of thing.

One idea could have it start with Johnny and Sara on the West Coast. After Johnny wakes up from his accident, and with his new second sight, he learns that Sara has joined the Stilson campaign, and he sets out in pursuit of her either on foot or car for some reason.

The fun part would be in how certain characters could be re-shuffled. For instance, what would happen if you combined Frank Dodd with D-Fens from "Falling Down", and made the overall arch of the series the two paths both men take as they make their way toward the Stilson campaign terminus, which could be Castle Rock?

Furthermore, what if Johnny's conflict could be that he has a choice of either letting Dodd take out Stilson, or else facing Armageddon?

That's just an idea I had, though it's not something I take seriously. Hell, my idea for Dees would be Johnny Depp reprising his "Fear and Loathing" persona. It's just one of those fun fan-fic ideas is all.

Here's what I think has happened: They dropped a vague concept into a teaser trailer and put it out there. That's all. It's a marketing technique where they just put the idea out there and let it gestate. Amazon recently did this with Amazon Go. It's a huge concept that people are talking about a lot. Hulu hadn't even ordered the first ten episodes when this trailer dropped. None of the structure of the show is done so far as we know. No director, no script, no cast, etc. All we know is that it's very very likely going to happen. But then again, projects fall apart all the time. Maybe it won't happen at all.

I think there's a good chance that you're correct, and that the properties presented in the teaser are not going to end up actually being in the series. In which case, why go that route? For the buzz, I guess, but that seems like a recipe for having it blow up in their faces if the final concept doesn't match the initial concept.

I wouldn't be surprised if there actually ARE some scripts. The teaser contains dialogue that mostly doesn't seem to correspond to extant King stories. If it doesn't, where did it come from?

I'm very apprehensive about the series, but I have to confess that I'm intrigued to see how it develops. So in that sense, maybe the teaser was a success!